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Pentatonic scale on piano
The pentatonic scale on piano: which white and black keys, the minor and major pentatonic in all twelve keys, played at a tap, MIDI and WAV to take.
Mika reads the pentatonic scale on piano as 3 2 2 3 2. Semitones, not feelings.Tap Hear it, or tap any note on the board.
A C D E G
The notes of the A pentatonic scale
A C D E G
Formula: 1 ♭3 4 5 ♭7. Steps from note to note: 3 2 2 3 2 semitones (one and a half, whole, whole, one and a half, whole).
Natural A minor without its 2nd and 6th (B and F). The same five notes are the C major pentatonic scale.
The A pentatonic scale on the piano
White keys: A C D E G; no black keys.
For the fingering, slide the thumb under after the black keys, never onto one.
The pentatonic scale in all twelve keys
| Root | minor pentatonic scale | major pentatonic scale | Black keys |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | C E♭ F G B♭ | C D E G A | 2 |
| C♯ | C♯ E F♯ G♯ B | C♯ D♯ E♯ G♯ A♯ | 3 |
| D | D F G A C | D E F♯ A B | 0 |
| E♭ | E♭ G♭ A♭ B♭ D♭ | E♭ F G B♭ C | 5 |
| E | E G A B D | E F♯ G♯ B C♯ | 0 |
| F | F A♭ B♭ C E♭ | F G A C D | 3 |
| F♯ | F♯ A B C♯ E | F♯ G♯ A♯ C♯ D♯ | 2 |
| G | G B♭ C D F | G A B D E | 1 |
| G♯ | G♯ B C♯ D♯ F♯ | G♯ A♯ B♯ D♯ E♯ | 4 |
| A | A C D E G | A B C♯ E F♯ | 0 |
| B♭ | B♭ D♭ E♭ F A♭ | B♭ C D F G | 4 |
| B | B D E F♯ A | B C♯ D♯ F♯ G♯ | 1 |
The black keys are one
Play only the black keys of a piano and you are playing a pentatonic scale: G♭ major pentatonic, or E♭ minor pentatonic. That is the quickest way to improvise something that sounds right. From C, A and E the minor pentatonic is all or mostly white keys; the table shows every key.
More scales
Pentatonic scale Pentatonic scale on guitar Pentatonic scale on bass Major scale on piano Minor scale on piano Blues scale on piano
How this page works
Hear it plays the scale up and down at 100 BPM on one of four Brumm sounds. Take it gives the same notes as a MIDI file and a WAV. − and + move the root. Every note here is computed from the formula.
Sources
Scales and modes: Open Music Theory, musictheory.net. Piano fingerings: the standard scale-book fingerings (ABRSM scale books; Hanon, The Virtuoso Pianist, part 3). Trumpet valves: the standard B♭ trumpet fingering chart (Yamaha, Bach). Hz: A4 = 440 Hz, ISO 16.
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